Couples Retreat
by AgelessSmkFan
Summary: Our favourite couple have to go to a couple's retreat in order to solve a case.
1. Prologue

Timeline: Post 4th season. The secret marriage is still a secret. They have already celebrated their first wedding anniversary. This story is a bit AU. Although I hope it stays within canon, but at times the characters will stray. For the purpose of this story Jeanine is an ex-agent. She retired from the agency once she was married to Billy.

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. If you are going to flame then do it nicely. All feedback is appreciated. There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one.

Prologue

It was the perfect summer day in Washington DC. The heat wave that had held the city hostage for so long had finally broken. Kids could finally go outside and play in the cool summer air, while their ragged parents breathed a collective sigh of agreement that they no longer had to create activities for their kids inside of the houses anymore. Each parent silently hoping that the final week before school would fly by and the kids would finally be back in school and someone else's problem for 8hrs a day.

An elderly gentleman sat quietly on a park bench in DC reading the newspaper eating a sandwich lovingly made by his daughter. He was undisturbed by the sounds of the children's laughter and shrieks of delights as they ran through the water that flowed through the fountain while their parents looked on from blankets on the ground.

A young woman glanced with disinterest at the antics of the people in the park through her designer sunglasses as she walked over to the park bench and sat close to the elderly man.

"We've found him." The young woman said looking straight ahead, not even glancing at the old man sitting beside her.

"Where is he?" The old man asked as he casually turned the page of his newspaper.

"He is on route to DC as we speak. "

"Good. I have word that Rusnik has plans to defect once he enters the camp grounds. We can't let that happen. He's knowledge on our weapons defence system is too crucial to let him slip over to the American government." The old man said.

"I have placed some of our men inside the camp to pose as counsellors. We will be able to keep an eye on him there and then grab him once we have him alone. I have word that the Agency is going to be sending their own men inside the camp as well. Once we have identified them and neutralized them, we will grab Rusnik."

"Good. Good. Remember failure is not an option." The old man said menacingly.

The young woman said nothing. She merely looked straight ahead and looked over to where the children were playing. She remembered all too well what happened if one failed. If she hadn't failed all those years ago maybe she would have been able to watch her own son play in the park with the rest of the children, instead of screaming in horror as she watched him being killed right before her very eyes. The young woman nodded briefly, then stood up and walked away without a backward glance. The elderly man continued to read his newspaper as if the entire conversation didn't happen.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

At 7AM, clock radios in two different households that were separated by an entire city went off. Each owner of the clock quickly rolled over and slapped it shut, then rolled back over to stare up at the ceiling. Each lost in their own thoughts of the events of the previous night. It had been a long night that had resulted in each of them stumbling into their respective beds out of sheer exhaustion.

Lee and Amanda had been tracking down an arms dealer for the past two months. They had finally received a tip from a member of Lee's family, that they would be able to find him in a small house an hour outside of the city. They had the house staked out for a week before they had finally spotted him. Quickly Lee had run out of the van that had been hidden in the shadows across the street, leaving Amanda to radio in for back up. Once she had done that, she ignored Lee's usual command to 'stay in the car' and took off after her partner. 

Quietly she crept along side of the house, keeping close to her partner. Once they noticed that their backup had arrived, Lee and agent Johnson quickly broke down the door and stormed inside of the house. Unseen by anyone in all the excitement, their suspect had slipped out the back door and was making a mad dash into the woods that surrounded the house. Amanda spotted this and grabbed one of the metal buckets that had been carelessly strewn down on the ground and swung the handle and hit him over the head knocking him out. Billy quickly ran over to Amanda and congratulated her on a job well down as he reached down and cuffed their suspect. They spent the rest of the night into the wee hours of the morning, in debriefing and then typing out their reports of what had happened that night.

Now both Amanda and Lee were in their respective homes, each missing each other, but knowing that soon they would be reunited again. Quickly Amanda got out of bed and got dressed. Silently she opened the door to her son's room and looked in on them making sure that they were both ok, marvelling at how quickly her son's were growing up.

School was starting in a week and Joe had wanted to spend some quality time with them. He had asked Amanda if he could take the boys camping for the week, and Amanda had readily agreed. She was happy that Joe was taking on a more active role in the raising of their children and supported his decision to spend more time with them. Joe and Carrie would be picking them up that morning so they could get a head start on the traffic. Glancing around the room, Amanda noticed that the boys still hadn't packed for their trip with their father and she silently grimaced.

"Wake up sweethearts." She called out to Jamie and Phillip. "Your father is going to be here any minute and neither one of you is packed for your trip."

"Awwww mom, just a few more minutes," mumbled a sleepy Phillip from underneath his pillow.

"No. It's time to wake up. If you had packed up your things properly from last night like I had asked you to ,then you could have slept in. Now up and at it!" Amanda said with more force in her voice as she yanked the blankets and pillows off her sleeping sons. She grinned as they both moaned and groaned about having to get up so early when it wasn't even a school day, and she left them to get ready.

Amanda quickly walked down the stairs to the kitchen to prepare a quick breakfast and to turn on the coffee maker, when the doorbell rang. Opening it she found Joe standing outside.

"Come in Joe. You're early."

"I know, but Carrie was so excited about spending time with the boys that she couldn't sleep. And if she doesn't sleep, then I don't sleep."

Amanda laughed at her ex-husband and lead him into the kitchen.

"Are the boys up yet?" Joe asked.

Bang, bang, bang.

"Mom, Phillip won't let me in the bathroom. I can't get ready."

"Shut up worm brain."

"Mom, Phillip just called me a worm brain."

"I think they're up," Joe chuckled softly. "I'll go look after them," and he quickly headed up the stairs.

The next half an hour was spent in a flurry of activity as Amanda prepared breakfast for the boys, and Joe helped to get them packed and stored their things in the car. Dotty woke up with all the commotion, and came downstairs mumbling into her coffee that Amanda should have given birth to nice quiet girls. All too soon the boys raced out the front door yelling out "Bye mom, love ya," Amanda laughed and waved good bye to them from the front door and watched them drive away.

"Amanda darling, since the boys are going to be with Joe for the week, I'm going to go and visit Aunt Lillian." Dotty said as she tried to decipher yet anther bananagram in the daily newspaper. "Captain Kurt has volunteered to fly me there on his plane this afternoon."

"Really mother? I was hoping that we could go see a movie today. I'm off for the weekend." Between the boys, Lee and her job, she had barely spent any time with her mother.

"I'm sure that you won't be lonely dear," her mother hinted as she looked at her daughter over her cup of coffee. "I think a Mr Stetson will be more than happy to accompany you to that movie that you wanted to see. Who knows with the house empty you never know what kind of questions that he could ask you."

"Mother," Amanda exclaimed knowingly at her mother.

"You never know dear. I met a psychic at the fair the other day and she said that there is a little blue box with a pretty blue ribbon in the future for you. Then maybe you'll get a chance to wear some of those things I see you've been looking at from Rebecca's Secret."

"Mother, I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Amanda dear, I may be older than you but I'm not blind!" Dotty exclaimed with a knowing chuckle and began to walk up the stairs. Before Amanda could respond back the phone began to ring. "Tell Lee that I said good morning, and that I hope to hear an announcement soon!"

Amanda looked slightly amused and mortified as she answered the phone. It was Billy.

"Good morning Amanda. I know that today is your day off, but something urgent has come up and I need you here within the hour."

"Yes sir. I'll be there."

"Good. I'll see you then. Um Amanda I haven't managed to get a hold of Lee, if you see or hear from him can you please pass on the message that I need to meet with him as well?" Billy asked with a knowing smile.

"Uhh sure." Amanda said not sure how to respond.

"Good. I'll see you in a bit then." And with that Billy hung up.

Tap, tap, tap. Amanda looked over to see a grinning Lee at her kitchen window, and gestured for him to come in.

"Morning Mrs Stetson." Lee said as his arms encircled his wife.

"Good morning Mr Stetson, and keep your voice down a bit. Mother is upstairs." Amanda leaned in for a quick kiss with her husband. "I thought you were going to come over early this morning to help get the boys ready for their camping trip with Joe?"

"I tried but there was some accident on the road, and it took forever to get here. Can I make it up to you?" Lee said as he gave his wife a heart melting smile and began to lean down for another kiss.

"Ohh good morning Lee. Why am I not surprised to see you here this morning?" announced Dotty as she waltzed into the kitchen. Giving them a knowing smile, as Lee quickly took a step back from Amanda.

"Good morning Mrs West. " Lee said, while looking like his hands had been caught in the cookie jar.

Amanda just sighed and said "Mother, aren't you supposed to be packing?"

"I am darling. I am. I just came downstairs to grab my suitcase. I hope you two have a nice weekend."

"Is she going away for the weekend?" Lee asked hoping to spend some alone time with his wife. They had spent precious few moments together since they had been secretly married earlier that year.

"She's going to visit Aunt Lillian."

"Really," Lee said in his sexy baritone voice. He tried to pull his wife into another hug.

"Hold that thought big fella. Billy just called he wants us in his office in an hour."

"But it's our weekend off" Lee began to complain.

"I know that, and you know that, and so does he. But he said that something came up and he couldn't contact you to tell you about it. Now come on lets go. The earlier we go, the sooner we can come back home." Knowing that it was useless to argue with his wife, he followed Amanda as she called out a good bye to her mother and out the door towards the car.

Inside Billy's office

Billy held up a hand as he said on the front edge of his desk. Both Lee and Francine were seated in front of him and had begun to complain about being dragged into work on their day off. Amanda just sat quietly in the office in a chair by the door.

"People, people I know. But this is important. It's my day off as well. You think I'm enjoying having to come in on my day off as well?" Billy asked. When he saw that he wasn't going to get any further complaints from either of them he continued.

"Rusnik has contacted our government saying that he wants to defect." Billy said.

Lee whistled. "I never thought I would live to see the day when that would happen."

"Who is Rusnik?" Amanda asked.

"Rusnik is a Russian scientist. He helped to create some of the most deadliest nuclear weapons Russia has. It would be a blow to the Russian intelligence network if he were to defect." Lee answered.

"That's right." Billy said. "We have word that Rusnik will be at a retreat this week here in DC."

"I'm surprised that the Russian government would let Rusnik out of the country." Francine wondered out loud.

"The Russian government's official stand is that they aren't developing any nuclear weapons, and that Rusnik isn't a part of their defence department. But our intelligence tells us that Rusnik can travel, but they have him under close observations. If he were to defect, then that would be a huge loss for them."

"Sir what exactly are we supposed to do?" Amanda asked.

Billy started to smile, and handed each of them a blue folder with more information about their assignment. "Well Rusnik will be attending a couple's retreat with his wife this week. Lee, Amanda your cover is to play a newlywed couple. You both are on this retreat to learn how to communicate so that you don't end up divorced." Billy pretended not to notice the look that was exchanged between his two best agents. "Francine, you're going to play to part of an unhappily single woman who needs to learn how to attract the right man."

"Billy, I don't need to learn how to attract a man. Thank you very much!" Francine said indignantly. She ignored the giggles of Lee of Amanda beside her.

"Now Francine I am well aware that you can attract a man, but we need to cover all the bases. I'm even getting Jeanine involved in this. We're playing the part of a married couple that needs to learn how to spice up their love life." When Lee raised his eye to this, he added "Jeanine has been at me for taking her on a trip this year. She wants to spend more time together. Now I just can combine both in one shot!"

Lee laughed out loud at that, and asked "when do we leave Billy?"

"This retreat is for a week. We all check in tonight. You all have the necessary information of the location and time in your packets." Billy said. "I'll see you all there. Keep on your toes people. We may not have a lot of opportunities to communicate amongst ourselves, and I don't want anything to go wrong with this. Getting Rusnik to defect will be a great feather in our caps." And with that he dismissed the group.


	3. Chapter 2

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. If you are going to flame then do it nicely. All feedback is appreciated. There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one. If you are a Beta and you have the time to Beta this fanfic then please send me an email.

Chapter 2

The sun had just started to set when Lee and Amanda pulled into one of the few remaining parking spots at Daydreams Resort. The retreat was an hour outside of Arlington, and Amanda was grateful to finally get out of the Jeep. Lee had been getting on her nerves. He had spent the whole drive complaining about how Rusnik was disrupting their plans for the week. Lee had been looking forward to spending some alone time with Amanda where she didn't always have to go home early to spend time with the boys. Once he learned that Dotty had left to visit her sister, Lee was even angrier. He was going to miss spending an entire week as a married couple with Amanda. The only silver lining to this whole week, was that they didn't have to pretend that they were married or newlyweds for this assignment. They could finally show how they felt about each other in front of Billy, Jeanine and Francine without fear of being found out.

"Daydreams Resort!" Lee mumbled under his breath as he opened the door and helped his wife out of the jeep. They had taken Amanda's car because it could hold all of their luggage."This place definitely doesn't look like a resort to me." He looked around and took in the scenery, grateful that he had followed Amanda's suggestion to dress casually in jeans and a sweater. He had hoped that Daydreams Resort would come complete with a sauna, a hot tub, and an opportunity to give his beautiful wife a relaxing massage at the end of each day. Daydreams Resort however, looked rustic at best. Lee could see that all the buildings had that faux log cabin look on the outside. He could spot some log cabins in distance that looked so small that they could have doubled as a shed. "Oh well," he thought, "at least I can still have give a nice scented oil massage to my lovely wife!"

"Oh sweetheart, just give it a chance. You never know, you could find out that you'll really enjoy it here." Amanda said trying to cheer up her husband.

"I highly doubt it," Lee said under his breathe but agreed to drop the subject. He knew that Amanda was starting to get frustrated with him and all his complaining. Both he and Amanda followed the flow of traffic into a larger building for registration. Inside they quickly spotted Francine talking to a group of men, but they walked past her as if she were a stranger. Lee spotted the registration booth and guided his wife towards it. Once they were at the booth they quickly lined up and waited impatiently to check in. Neither Lee nor Amanda acknowledged that Billy and Jeanine were in front of them.

"I don't care how much work that you think you have at the office, this is our time."Jeanine said looking sternly at her husband, as they walked up to a twenty something blond woman standing in front of the registration booth.

"Jean, all I said is that I have a lot of work to do at the office, and that I wished that you would have let me bring some of it with me on this little vacation of ours. I'm going to be swamped when we go back!" Billy complained.

"William, this is the first time we have taken a vacation without the kids since we got married. You're always working." Jeanine said starting to look very frustrated as she crossed her arms across her chest and began to tap her foot on the floor. "If I found out that you brought any work with you on this trip, so help me I'll ask for a divorce!" And with that Jeanine grabbed all the brochures that the welcome hostess held out for them and stomped off across the room.

Billy looked embarrassed and quickly apologized to the hostess. He finished his registration forms and handed them back in and then went off to look for Jeanine. When he turned around and saw Lee and Amanda starting at him with dumbfounded looks on their faces, he quickly and discreetly winked at them. "Jean! Jean! Wait! You're overreacting honey. Jean!"

"Is that what I have to look forward too?" Lee teased Amanda.

Amanda playfully smacked him on his chest giggling, "only if you bring work with you on our vacation sweetheart!" Lee started to laugh and then they walked up to the welcome hostess.

"Welcome to Daydreams Resorts. Where all your daydreams can come true!" said the perky petite blond lady. "My name is Julie, and I'll be your welcome hostess for your vacation. If you have any questions feel free to ask me."

"Why thank you." Lee said flashing his trademark smile at Julie. "We're the Steadman's."

"The Steadman's, the Steadman's," Julie said as she looked down the list of names on her clipboard. "Oh here it is. Mr and Mrs Steadman. You're one of our newlyweds." She said beaming up at Lee and Amanda. She grabbed some brochures off of the table, a couple of t-shirts, and some hats. "Okay here you both go. Mrs Steadman you'll be staying in the ladies rooming house. That's the large log cabin to the left. It has a sign on the door saying Women. Mr Steadman you'll be rooming in the large log cabin near the back end of the campgrounds. Here is a map of the campgrounds, and now you're all set."

"Umm excuse me." Amanda said looking at Julie.

"Yes?" Julie asked.

"There must be some mistake. We are the Steadman's, the newlywed couple." Lee said with a nervous laugh while looking from Amanda to Julie.

"Yes?" Julie asked again, clearly not understanding what the problem was.

"We're newlyweds! So why are we in separate rooms?" Lee asked, almost afraid of the answer. His hopes of salvaging part of this week were slipping through his fingers.

"This is a couple's retreat, where couples learn how to communicate better. We find that newlyweds tend to focus on just the physical forms of communication and ignore the verbal part of their relationship. We want to avoid that problem here. So we separate all couples." Julie said while looking at Lee as this was the most logical thing in the world.

"But, but.." stuttered Lee.

"I think what my husband is trying to ask, is that you didn't separate the couple that was just a head of us. You put them in one of those quaint log cabins that we can saw when we arrived here." Amanda said while she placed a calming hand on Lee's arm.

"That's right. They weren't newlyweds. They have been married for years. People who have been married for a long time have forgotten how to communicate physically and they need to relearn how to do that. That's why they get to share a cabin together." Julie said perkily. "Now if you have any other questions, then I will be happy to help you. Next." And with that Julie dismissed them turning to help the next couple.

Lee's face was starting to turn a deep shade of red as he was getting angrier and angrier with each breath that he took. Amanda knew that look in his eyes and knew that if she didn't figure out a way to calm him down, there would soon be trouble. She quickly pulled Lee away from Julie before he could cause a scene, and whispered to him, "Now sweetheart it's not that bad. It's not like we've never slept apart before in our married life."

"But Amanda, we are married. I want to sleep with my wife!" Lee hissed back at Amanda. He couldn't believe it. It was like fate was always against them. First it took them several attempts before he could find an uninterrupted moment to kiss Amanda. Even then they had only managed to kiss when he had locked the door to the Q bureau before Billy interrupted then yet again. Now fate was butting in yet again, preventing him from sleeping with his wife. He silently cursed Rusnik in his head. He allowed himself to be pulled outside of the crowded lodge hoping that some fresh air would wake him from this horrible nightmare that he seemed to have gotten himself involved in.

"Lee." said Amanda. "Lee. Lee." She said again a bit more loudly trying to get Lee's attention.

"What?" Lee asked looking down at Amanda.

"This is my cabin. Thanks for carrying my bags sweetheart. I think your cabin is that one over there where all the men seemed to be hanging around." Amanda said pointing to the log cabin that was a couple yards to the right of the women's cabin. There were twenty men gathered outside all sharing the same frustrated look that Lee had on his face at that moment.

"Amanda I did not get married so I can spend a week with twenty other guys in a log cabin, while my wife, is in another cabin. It's bad enough that we don't get to spend enough time with each other as it is. But this is going too far. I'm going to go and find Billy and have him fix this." Frustration was evident in Lee's voice.

"Now Lee, just calm down a minute. Just what exactly are you going to tell Billy?" asked Amanda, partially amused and partially annoyed. "Billy I want to sleep in the same cabin as my wife. The wife that I never told you about? " When it looked like Lee was starting to listen to reason she continued, "Lee we are on a case. The same rules apply here as they do at work. When we are at work we need to act like we are at work."

"But Amanda.." Lee started to whine but stopped when Amanda leaned up and kissed him. Lee dropped the luggage on the ground and his arms encircled his wife pulling her closer to him.

"I'll promise to reward you with something special when this whole case is over with if you're a good sport." Amanda said with a twinkle in her eyes. Her arms holding Lee tightly. She could see Lee's interest starting to take hold of him.

"A reward huh?" asked Lee with a knowing smile. "What kind of reward?"

"I bought a little something from Rebecca's Secret the other day. And if you're a good boy, I'll model it for you when we get home." Amanda said seductively, batting her beautiful brown eyes up at her husband.

Lee gave a low growl and admitted defeat. "Alright you win. I'll be a good boy." And he leaned down to kiss his wife again. With a sigh he grabbed his luggage and turned to stalk towards the men's lodge.

"Play nice with the other children sweetheart!" Amanda said playfully as she swatted him on his butt. Lee gave her a look and walked off. Amanda just laughed at her husband and grabbed her own luggage and walked into her cabin all ready to settle in for the evening.


	4. Chapter 3

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. If you're going to flame, then please do it nicely. All feedback is appreciated. There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one. If you are a Beta and you have the time to Beta this fanfic then please send me an email, or if you know how to get a Beta then please send me an email on how to do it.

Chapter 3

Finally it was nightfall, and a peaceful silence filled the air of Daydreams Resorts. One by one, all the people in the camp began to find comfortable and warms spot in their beds, and began to drift off into a deep restful slumber. Only one inhabitant in a large log cabin, continued to resist the temptation to drift off into sleep. Lee was resting in the top bunk staring up at the ceiling. Thoughts of Amanda filled his mind and prevented him from sleeping. He missed her. He missed the smell of her hair, the touch of her skin, the softness of her lips. Lee groaned trying to block the racy thoughts that began to enter his mind, by looking at his watch. It was 2am and it was time to go.

Slowly and quietly Lee lowered himself from the top bunk, hoping that he didn't disturb his bunk mate. He felt like he was a little kid trying to sneak out of the barracks. Quietly Lee opened the door to the cabin and peeked outside to make sure that the coast was clear. He noticed that a guard was walking around the campgrounds and briefly wondered why a place like Daydreams Resort would need an armed guard at night time. In what Amanda liked to refer to as the cat burglar move, Lee darted across the open space and into the forest that surrounded the campground, making sure that he was careful not to snap any of the broken branches that covered the forest floor. In a matter of minutes Lee came upon the agreed upon destination and waited for the rest of his team.

"Psst, Lee?" Amanda whispered as she crept into the clearing. Lee snuck up behind her and placed his arms around his wife. "Lee!" rasped Amanda. "You scared me!"

Lee chuckled sexily as he spun his wife around in his arms and looked lovingly down into her eyes. "Can't a husband surprise his wife?"

Amanda put her arms around her husband's waist and looked up into he beautiful hazel eyes seeing the love that reflected in their depths. "Of course he can." Lee lowered his lips down on to her lips and kissed her softly and gently. Each revelling in the softness of their lover's lips.

"Wow," Amanda said softly when their kiss ended.

"I missed you tonight." Said Lee.

"I missed you too!" said Amanda. "How was your evening with the guys?"

"Awful!" Lee sighed. "I'm stuck in a log cabin with twenty-four other men, while my wife is in another cabin. I feel like I'm back in the army again! Plus I'm the oldest one there!"

"Sweetheart, I know, but hopefully we won't be here that long. We just have to find Rusnik, make contact and then we can go home."

"Home, now that sounds nice." Lee murmured as he lowered his head to kiss Amanda again.

"Ahem!" they heard someone cough. Lee and Amanda quickly pulled apart and whirled around to see who had spotted them.

"Sir," Amanda said quickly.

"Sorry. Did I interrupt anything?" Billy said grinning at the couple.

"Ahh no. We thought we heard someone coming and we thought it was the guard. Just playing our cover." Lee said quickly.

"That's right sir, our cover," Amanda said just as quickly.

Before Billy could respond, they heard another sound. Quickly they all scattered.

"Billy, Lee, Amanda?" called out Francine, and turned around as they all came out from their hiding spots. "Sorry I'm late, but that guard they have walking around almost caught me. I wasn't expecting someone to be on patrol out here."

"Francine you're a spy. Remember. Expect the unexpected." Lee snapped back.

"I'm an intelligence operative, not a spy! Please like you expected a guard to be on duty all the way out here. It's a stupid couple's retreat out in the middle of now where." Francine said exasperatedly.

"People, people, can it." Billy interjected quickly. "Now listen quickly. We don't know how much time we have out here. Has anyone seen Rusnik?"

"No," Francine replied.

"We haven't either sir. " answered Amanda. "Are we even sure that Rusnik is coming here? What if he changed his plans?"

"The last intel that we have, said that Rusnik was going to be here. We just have to keep our eyes open and find him. In the morning I want everyone to spread out and cover the campgrounds. See if he's hiding somewhere. We'll meet back here again tomorrow night same time."

"What if we find him sir, what do you want us to do?" asked Amanda.

"If you spot him then just watch him for now. Don't make contact until we meet tomorrow night. I want to make sure that this goes smoothly. If they have a guard walking around at night time, it's a good chance that someone here is watching him as well."

"Got it." Said Francine. "Billy, where is Jeanine?"

"She's watching the guard. She'll alert us if he gets too close. I'll update her on everything when I see her."

"Sir, is everything ok between you and her?" Amanda asked. "That was a big argument that both had earlier."

"We're fine Amanda. Don't worry about us. Just playing our cover!" Billy said chuckling softly. "Now, is there anything that we need to discuss before we all go back to bed?"

"Yeah." Lee said. "They have Amanda and I sleeping in separate quarters!"

"And?" Billy said grinning. "What's the problem with that?"

"I thought we were supposed to play a newlywed couple? Don't newlywed couples at least sleep in the same cabin?"

"We'll since you and Amanda aren't really married, then it should be fine. Wasn't it a couple years ago, when I first partnered you two up, you would complain about having to play a married couple with Amanda? And how Amanda was too rigid, that she wouldn't even stay in the same room as you? At least this way you won't have anything to complain about. Amanda can hold onto her virtue, and you can still play the happily married couple."

"Too rigid?" Amanda said questioningly looking at her husband shrewdly.

"Uhh," Lee looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock, but before he could start to explain they all heard an owl hooting in the distance.

"That's Jeanine. Someone must be coming. Back to bed people!" Billy said, and he quickly started back into the forest towards his cabin.

Francine gave a quick good night to Amanda and Lee and ran into the woods at the same time Lee took Amanda's hand and they also disappeared into the night. Slowly and quietly, Lee and Amanda crept through the darkness of the forest, using only the moonlight to help guide their steps. They stopped briefly when they came across the guard and hid behind one of the large trees until he passed. Once they were sure that he has passed them, they darted quickly across the clearing back into their respective cabins.

Lee watched as Amanda slipped quickly into her cabin. Once her door was closed, Lee entered his own cabin. He allowed his eyes to become accustomed to the darkness of the cabin and slowly made his way back to his bunk and quickly climbed back into bed. He allowed his thoughts to drift again towards his wife and how soft her lips had been pressed up against his. He groaned again, punched his pillow and forced himself to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 4

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. I am grateful for all the positive reviews that I have received thus far. It's been helpful to know that people are enjoying my little tale. If you feel the need to flame, however, then please do so nicely. All feedback, positive or negative will be appreciated.

There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one. If you are a Beta and you have the time to Beta this fanfic then please send me an email, or if you know how to get a Beta then please send me an email on how to do it.

Chapter 4

Amanda woke up to the sounds of the other women that she shared her cabin with, complaining about their husbands as they got ready for breakfast. Some women complained that their husbands never took out the garbage, nor could they ever put their dirty clothes in the clothes hamper. One woman complained that her husband never helped to wash the dishes after she slaved all day to make his favourite dish. Amanda giggled silently to herself listening to all the complaints and briefly wondered if she had ever sounded like that when she was first married to Joe. When she had first gotten married, she had wanted everything to be perfect at all times. Now after many years, a divorce, and two pre-teen children later, she realized that all those things weren't as important any more. She much preferred the marriage that she had with Lee, with all its flaws and problems, than go back in time, to when she was younger and more insecure.

Thoughts of Lee danced in Amanda's head as she finally gave in to the hunger of her stomach and began to get ready for breakfast. She wondered how he had slept through the night. She knew that he had trouble sleeping when she wasn't beside him, even though he would never admit to it. She thought briefly of the man Lee was when they ha d first meet. He had pleaded with her to help him, and she did with only the briefest of hesitation. Then later on, he had tried to get rid of her on the Washington monument by saying that he was a loner and didn't need a partner. Over the years, even as he pushed her away saying that he didn't need nor want her help, he had kept on coming around her house trying to see her. Always with the excuse that Billy was the one that had requested her help, until one day he didn't use Billy as his excuse anymore. It was Lee that needed her help, and she gladly did.

"What took you so long?" Lee asked impatiently as he met her outside of her cabin.

"Well good morning to you too sweetheart. How did you sleep this morning?" Amanda asked as she gave her husband a quick kiss.

"Sorry. Good morning to you Amanda," Lee said sheepishly.

"There was a huge line up for the women's shower this morning. Who puts in three shower stalls for forty women to use?" asked Amanda.

"There wasn't any line up for the men's shower," Lee said. "Maybe you should have used that one. I wouldn't have minded sharing my shower with you," Lee said with a knowing grin on his face as he pulled his wife in for a hug.

"Oh you wouldn't would you?" Amanda laughed at her husband with love in her eyes. "Come on, let's get something to eat. We have a few hours to search for Rusnik before we have to go to our couple's seminar this afternoon."

"What seminar?" asked Lee as he took her hand and led them to the breakfast hall.

"Lee didn't you read your brochures? It has our itinerary on it. We have couples seminars each day that we're here. It's supposed to help improve our communication skills as a married couple."

"Awww come on. We don't need any seminars on how to communicate. We communicate just fine!" Lee exclaimed.

"Now we're communicating better, but it was only a few years ago I almost quit The Agency because of our failure to communicate with each other, remember?" Amanda said.

Lee thought back to a time when Amanda had almost been sold into slavery. He had been upset with her over a missing microdot, partially blaming her for his inability to find it. He had started a huge argument with her and had stormed out of her house after she said that maybe she should resign from the agency. Thank goodness he had felt guilty about the argument and had gone back to the house to apologize, or else he could have lost her for good. "Fine, but I have nothing to say!"

"That's ok, you can just sit there and listen." Amanda said soothingly knowing that was the best she could hope for at the moment.

After a quick breakfast, Lee and Amanda began to search the grounds while pretending to be out on a leisurely walk. Once along their journey, they had passed Francine, who stopped briefly for a chat. She told them that she had passed Billy and Jeanine earlier that morning, and that they hadn't found any clues on Rusnik's whereabouts either. Lee searched cabin after cabin, while Amanda stayed as a look out, each time coming up empty handed. Amanda could tell that Lee was beginning to get frustrated with the lack of clues. They had even spoken with other couples to try and see if anyone had seen someone who matched Rusnik's description, but again they came up empty handed. All they could do was continue searching until they met with Billy that night.

"Lee, it's time to go to our seminar," Amanda reminded Lee when she looked at her watch.

"What seminar?" Lee asked distractedly.

"Lee you know very well what seminar I'm talking about. We have to go now or else we'll be late." Amanda began to lecture.

"Amanda, we aren't really here to improve on our communication skills as a couple you know. We have to find Rusnik before someone else does."

"I know that, but I don't want to blow our cover either. Now come on!" Amanda said determinedly. Lee sighed and followed Amanda reluctantly back to the base camp.

"Hello everyone. Welcome to our first group meeting. I'm Timothy and I'll be your head counsellor," said a short older gentleman, as he looked at all the couples and singles sitting on blankets in front of him. "We have four couple's counsellors here at Daydream Resorts. James and Melissa are going to be doing the sessions with our singles, while Nicole and myself, will be working with all the married couples," he said as he pointed out all the different counsellors. "Now can I have all the singles please follow James and Melissa? You all will be meeting inside the lunch hall. All your sessions will be held over there. All the married couples please stay here."

Timothy waited until all the single people had left before he continued. "Okay ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you a little bit about myself. Nicole and I have been married for fifteen years. We've had our ups and downs just like every other couple in this place. But we have learnt over the years that the key to making our relationship work is communication."

"When we were dating Tim and I could talk about any and everything. We couldn't wait to spend time together, and we wanted to do everything together." Nicole said.

"Then we got married, and for the first part of our marriage all we did was fight. The time that we really connected was when we were."

"Being romantic," jumped in Nicole with a slight blush. Everyone chuckled softly.

"That's right honey. Then over time we stopped even that form of communication, and we had to learn how to communicate both verbally and through our actions. That's what we are here to teach you all this week." Timothy said. "One of the first things we are going to do is pair up each newlywed couple with a couple that has been married a few years. Can I get everyone to pair up right now?"

Lee tried to get Billy's to partner up with him and Amanda, but when he turned around another couple was sitting beside them.

"Hi, we are the Norman's. I'm David and this is my wife Lisa, and we've been married for ten years." David introduced himself.

"Hi David, Lisa, We are the Steadman's. This is my husband Lee and I'm Amanda." Amanda said as she extended her hand to the other couple. She poked Lee in the stomach to get his attention.

"Hmmm, yeah. Oh nice to meet you both," Lee said distractedly as he watched Billy and Jeanine partner up with another young couple.

"Does everyone have a couple?" asked Nicole. She listened as various couples yelled out yes.

"Good. Now what I want everyone to do, is to make another group. Four couples per group, two newlywed couples, and two married couples." Timothy called out again.

Billy and Jeanine and their partners managed to make their way discreetly to where Amanda and Lee were sitting.

"Do you mind if we join you?" asked Jeanine to Lisa.

"No not at all. The more the merrier." Amanda said quickly.

"I'm Jean and this is my husband William," Jeanine introduced themselves, as they all sat down in a group.

"I'm Phil and this is my wife Wendy," the other couple introduced themselves, making themselves comfortable.

"This is my wife Lisa, and I'm David." David introduced him and his wife.

"I'm Lee and this is my wife Amanda." Lee said as he did the introductions.

"Does everyone have another set of partners?" Timothy asked. "Good. Now, what I want everyone to do is to introduce themselves to the rest of the group, and then tell them what it was about your partner that attracted you to them. What is love at first site? Was it something that he or she said or did? Why did you pick them?"

Amanda looked at Lee and saw the expression on his face. He looked like he wanted to dig a hole and crawl into it. She knew that Lee found it uncomfortable to discuss his feelings when it was just the two of them, and now to have to do it in front of Billy and Jeanine, that may just be too much for him to handle. She looked over at Billy and Jeanine and noticed that Billy and Jeanine shared a secret smile as they looked lovingly at each other. She could see how strong their bond was, and she hoped that as time went on that she and Lee would have that same strong bond. Amanda let her mind wonder as she tried to figure out what she was going to say when it was her turn to speak. Then she began to wonder what Lee would say. They had never spoken about when Lee first realized that he had feelings for her. As she let her mind dwell on those thoughts, she missed out on what Lisa and David, as well as Wendy and Phil had to say. She forced her mind to return back on the present when Billy began to speak.

"Jean and I both work for the same organization but different locations. I worked out of the New York office and Jean worked out of the DC office. One day I had to go to DC for a meeting and I walked into the office and there she was, the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. One look at her and I knew that I was in love. I sat in on the meeting and we had a difference of opinion on something unimportant now that I look back at it. The fire in her eyes when she was all fired up… it was amazing. After the meeting I asked her out and she turned me down flat. It took three months of me pursing her before she finally agreed to go out with me. And the rest is history," Billy said with love in his eyes as he took Jeanine's hand in his and kissed it.

Jeanine kissed her husband on the cheek and whispered something into his ear and smiled lovingly at her husband. "I first saw William at the New York office a couple weeks before he first saw me. He had such a presence about him that I was in awe of. When he came out to the DC office, I knew I wanted to 

get to know him better but I wanted him to work for it. So I gave him a hard time at first to see if he would stick around, and he did." Jeanine said gazing over at her husband.

Amanda looked over and saw the silly grin that was on Lee's face as he watched his boss and his wife. Lee saw that Amanda was watching him and he turned to her and winked. She smiled back at him and then looked over at Billy and Jeanine again. It almost felt as if they had walked in on an intimate moment between the two of them.

"Amanda, Lee how did the two of you meet?" asked David. "Was it love at first sight?"

"Umm, no not really," said Lee slightly embarrassed.

"Don't lie sweetheart, you know that you loved me from the first moment you saw me!" Amanda said jokingly.

"What are you talking about?" Lee said trying a way to figure out how to not insult his wife at the same time.

"We met at the train station when Lee was working as a waiter. He saw me and made up some excuse of needing my help with something as a way of meeting me." Amanda said with a grin on her face.

"Amanda, you're not telling them the whole truth!" Lee said.

"The whole truth? The whole truth of how you had to see me again so you tracked me down and gave me your phone number, begging me to call you?" Amanda said. By this point Billy and Jeanine and Nicole were all laughing as Lee struggled to come up with an answer to Amanda's questions.

"Is she telling the truth Lee?" asked Jeanine with a huge smile on her face.

"Yes, but, but I can explain," started Lee.

"Then please explain, how did you meet your wife Mr Steadman?" asked David.

Lee sighed and looked at his wife as he spoke. "I was at the train station trying to meet a friend of mine before I went to work. But time was going too fast and I was going to miss him, and I had a gift for him that I had promised that I would drop off for him. I was going to be late for work so I looked around the train station to try and find someone that I knew would help me. There she was, this woman in a beige trench coat, with the kindest brown eyes that I had ever seen. I asked her to help me."

"Pleaded," interrupted Amanda. "You pleaded with me to help you."

Lee and Billy both chuckled and Lee said, "I pleaded with you to help me. And you did. Me, a perfect stranger. I never told you how much that meant to me. I didn't have a whole lot of faith in people, and their ability to help a perfect stranger, but you helped to restore that faith a little bit. And yes I did track you down to see you again. What my wife won't tell you is that she doesn't impress that easily. Or at least I didn't impress her that easily. When I finally got her to agree to meet with me I was dressed up in a tux for a costume party, and she didn't even blink. I would find ways to be invited to fancy parties and I 

would take Amanda as my date, and every time I turned around there was would be some guy trying to pick her up. It wasn't love at first site, I can't pinpoint an exact date of when I knew I was in love with her, it just happened. It was love that grew out of friendship, and I wouldn't change that for anything."

Amanda could barely look up at Lee. The intensity at which he looked at her bore right through her soul, and she had tears in her eyes as she spoke. "My husband is not an unattractive looking man. I had to wait a long time before he was ready to love me. But I knew he would be worth the wait."

"When did you know that you were in love with Lee?" asked Timothy. He had wondered over to their group and had heard part of what Lee had been saying about his love for Amanda.

"I actually realize I was in love with Lee one day when we had gone out for lunch. He was having a rough day at work, and he needed someone to talk to. He had been reminded of someone that he had loved and had died tragically. The way that he spoke, it was as if the walls that he kept around himself had finally come down, and I could really see the man that he was. I knew right then as I sat across from that table, listening to him speak, that I was in love." Amanda said in a half raspy whisper. Lee took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Excellent. That was great progress today," Timothy said loudly after Amanda had finished speaking. He clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention, "why don't you all go for a walk and continue to bond with your partner. We'll meet back here tomorrow at the same time and continue on with the progress that you all have been making. Remember who you all have in your groups, because the groups will stay the same."

Lee held out his hand for Amanda and helped her onto her feet. Holding hands they walked into the forest to enjoy a little bit of time together before real life intruded in on their happiness.


	6. Chapter 5

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. I am grateful for all the positive reviews that I have received thus far. It's been helpful to know that people are enjoying my little tale. If you feel the need to flame, however, then please do so nicely. All feedback, positive or negative will be appreciated.

There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one. If you are a Beta and you have the time to Beta this fanfic then please send me an email, or if you know how to get a Beta then please send me an email on how to do it.

Chapter 5

"_Everyone has turned in for the night," one of the guards said as he was making his nightly report to Timothy. "I don't think anyone is going to be wandering around in the dark tonight."_

"_Good, make sure that doesn't change," Timothy said. "Svetlana will be here shortly. If you value your life you'll stay out of her way."_

_The guard gulped quickly. "What's she like?"_

"_Deadly!" Timothy said and walked away. He waited outside by the parking lot for a few more minutes until he a saw a black car pull up along the dirt road. _

"_Welcome to Daydreams Resorts Svetlana," greeted Timothy as he opened the door and helped her out._

"_Thank you Dmitri," Svetlana said as she took his hand and then gave Timothy a brief hug. _

"_We are in America now, and here I go by the name Timothy," Timothy corrected her._

"_Timothy? And what about my sister Ivana? What is her name?" Svetlana asked slightly amused._

"_Nicole," Timothy answered._

"_Both are good American names." Svetlana nodded in agreement. "Is Rusnik here?"_

"_He is. We have him, and his wife, on the island compound." Timothy answered as he grabbed her bags from out of the car. He proceeded to show Svetlana the way to her own private cabin. "You can see him in the morning."_

"_I will see him now!" demanded Svetlana._

"_You must wait! We don't want to arouse suspicion. Right now he and his wife are sleeping. Don't worry! They are amoung other couples. They really think that they are at a couples retreat. We wanted to wait until you arrived before we captured him." Timothy said as he lowered the luggage down onto the floor. _

_Svetlana looked at her brother-in-law shrewdly, "are there sign of any agents?"_

"_Not yet," Timothy said. "We are keeping a close watch on all the couples so far. So far all the couples seem genuine."_

"_Not that I don't believe you dear brother, but I'm sure that the American government would love to get their hands on Rusnik. I'm sure that there is someone here to help him defect. Keep an eye out for any couple that seems too perfect." Svetlana said. "Keep me informed if you find out any information."_

"_I will." Timothy said. "You can meet the couples in the morning. I will introduce you to them as one of our top counsellors."_

"_Fine, whatever. What will my American name be?" Svetlana asked curiously._

"_We will just call you Lana," Timothy said with a slight grin. "Isn't that what your sister calls you?"_

"_You know perfectly well that it is." Svetlana said shortly. "Now be gone. I've been travelling for a long time and I must sleep. Tell my sister that I am here and I'll see her in the morning."_

"_As you wish," and with that Timothy left her alone._

Everyone had fallen asleep in the log cabin except for Amanda. She looked down at her glow-in-the-dark watch that Jamie had given to her as a Mother's Day gift and saw that it was 1:30Am. It was time to go and meet the others. Quietly she eased herself out of her bed, grateful that she had chosen the bottom bunk, and crept along the floor to the door. Each time she passed a window she ducked down so that she wouldn't be seen from the outside. Silently she pulled open the door and peeked outside, making sure that the coast was clear. Seeing that there was no guard walking around outside her door, Amanda quickly slipped through the door and made a mad dash towards the woods, and waited impatiently at the meeting spot for everyone else to show up.

"You need to pay more attention my dear," Lee said as he stood behind her. "Anyone could have followed you."

Amanda had jumped slightly at the sound of Lee's voice. "Well in my defence, you are one of the best agents in the country!" Amanda said as she turned around and looked up at her husband. Their arms encircled each other and Lee bent down for a quick kiss hello.

"Just one of the best in the country? You don't think that I am the best?" Lee asked teasingly as he gave her another kiss.

"Nope. Not the best, but you do have the best partner in the country?" Amanda teased.

"I have the best wife and partner anyone could have ever asked for!" Lee said agreeably.

Amanda blushed slightly at the compliment. "Where is everyone?"

"They'll be here in a while," Lee said distractedly.

"What happened? Did something go wrong? Did you find Rusnik?" Amanda said quickly starting to look alarmed.

"Everything is fine! Don't worry," Lee said soothingly. "They'll be here at 2am just like last night."

"I thought you told me that Billy wanted to meet earlier?" Amanda asked looking at her husband suspiciously.

"I uhh. I just wanted to spend some time alone with you before everyone else got here," Lee admitted guiltily. "Can't a man just spend some alone time with his wife anymore without getting the third degree?" Amanda looked up at her husband and laughed softly. She hugged him tightly and kissed him back passionately when he bent his head to capture her lips.

"That couple's session was pretty intense," Lee said when their kiss finally ended.

"Yes it was."

"Was that really when you knew that you loved me?" Lee asked. "When I told you about Dorothy?"

"Well I knew I had feelings for you before that, but I knew when I loved you when you finally let down your guard and let me in. All I had to do then was just wait until you discovered that you felt the same way about me."

"Was I worth the wait?" Lee asked apprehensively.

"Definitely!" Amanda answered back. She leaned in closer for another kiss when they heard footsteps. Quickly they pulled apart and hid in the bushes.

"Amanda, Lee!" called out Francine.

"We're here Francine," called out Amanda as she and Lee came out of their hiding spots.

"Now don't you two look all cosy!" said Francine.

"Can it Francine," called out Billy and he and Jeanine joined the group.

"Does anyone have anything to report?" asked Billy looking at all his agents.

"No sir." Amanda answered.

"Billy there's no sign of Rusnik anywhere. We've asked around and no one has seen him." Lee said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Think positively people. Rusnik has got to be here somewhere. All our intel said that he was going to be here at this camp."

"Darling do we have any info on the staff here? Do any of these people work for the Russian government?" Jeanine asked her husband.

"I put in a call to the Agency after we had our group session. I gave Fielder a list of names and a description of all the counsellors that work here. He's checking on all of them now, but I won't know anything definite until later on tonight at the earliest." Billy began to pace in the small clearing. "People I don't have to stress the importance of this mission. Getting Rusnik to defect would be a great achievement for the American government. The information that he could provide would be invaluable."

"Billy we've searched the entire camp, and all the cabins. There's no sign that Rusnik is here or ever was here!" Francine exclaimed.

"We'll give it a couple more days. See if he turns up. If we still don't have any more leads, then we'll call off this mission and leave. I want to give Fielder a chance to find out some information about our counsellors first. Doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that they have guards walking around? They must be hiding something, and my gut's telling me that they have Rusnik stashed somewhere on this camp."

"Great! A couple more days of these single seminars and I'm going to need a raise Billy," complained Francine.

"Why Francine aren't you learning anything in your sessions?" asked Jeanine.

"These sessions are a load of crap. Apparently they want me to believe that us single women, can't attract the right man, until we learn to love ourselves first." Francine complained. "I told that lady that I love myself. I mean I get my hair and nails down every week, I buy all the best clothes, I eat at all the best restaurants. I mean come on now."

"Francine, I don't think that's what they meant," said Amanda. "I think they meant that you had to love your own personality and come to terms with who you really are on the inside, and not just on the outside."

"Whatever. I love myself inside and out. I don't have any problems attracting a man." Francine said indignity. "These sessions are pointless. What are you learning in your session? How to make a cocktail dress from a curtain?"

"That's enough Francine," Billy interrupted. "It's time to go back to our rooms before the guard finds us."

"Good night everyone," Jeanine called out as she followed her husband towards their cabin.

"Good night Francine, " Lee called out as he took Amanda's hand and led her back towards their separate cabins, leaving Francine standing in the clearing by herself.

Quickly they made their way through the woods and Amanda could feel Lee watching her as she made it back into her cabin. Amanda waited a couple seconds for her eyes to become accustomed to the darkness of the cabin and she made her way back silently to her bed, and quickly fell asleep. She never noticed the woman in the woods, who had been out on a midnight walk,watching at her.

Amanda woke up to a flurry of activity in her cabin. All the women were wide awake and animatedly speaking about what they had learnt in their couple's session.

"Morning Amanda," Wendy said as she greeted her warmly.

"Morning Wendy," Amanda said just as warmly.

"Wasn't that a great session yesterday?" asked Wendy excitedly.

Amanda laughed at the excitement portrayed by the other woman. "It was a great session." Amanda agreed.

"Its soo obvious that your husband loves you. What he had to say was so romantic." Wendy gushed.

"Thanks, and the things your husband had to say was perfect as well," Amanda said a little guilty that she hadn't heard a word of what Wendy or her husband had said about each other.

Wendy giggled and blushed slightly. "Well he is a bit of a romantic. Did you know that he proposed to me when he was cleaning my teeth?" and at Amanda's questioning look she added, "Did I mention that he's a dentist?" Amanda shook her head no. "Oh sorry, well he's a dentist and we met when I went in to have my teeth cleaned. He did the funniest thing. He got this ceramic jaw and made them dance and talk and he used them to ask me out after he finished cleaning my teeth. He just simply took my breath away."

Amanda tried to keep up with flow of information that Wendy was sharing with her. It was almost as if Wendy had found a friend that she could share her entire life's story with. Briefly she felt she understood how Lee felt at the beginning of their friendship whenever she would go off on a tangent. She and Wendy chatted easily as they both waited in line for the shower and as they walked back to the cabin. Once Amanda was dressed she walked outside towards her waiting husband.

"How did you sleep last night?" asked Amanda with a quick kiss.

"Like a log," Lee replied. "How about you?"

"Like a baby!" Amanda replied. "Come on let's get some breakfast so we can go exploring again before our session."

"Actually I have a better idea," Lee suggested. "Feel like doing a little breaking and entering to help work up the appetite?"

"Just what do you have planned once we break into whatever you want to break into?" asked Amanda with a raised eyebrow.

"Get your mind out of the gutter will you. Although I like where your mind is going." Lee said with a grin. "I was just thinking we could break into the Administration Office while everyone is having breakfast. We could search it to see if there's any paperwork on Rusnik."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Amanda agreed, and she and Lee walked casually towards the office.

Lee made sure that no one was watching them while Amanda picked the lock. Once inside the office Lee began to search the desk while Amanda searched the file cabinet in the corner.

"There isn't anything here on the desk," Lee said as he ran his hand through his hair as a sign of frustration. "Did you find anything in the cabinet?"

"I found the registration paperwork on everyone here." Amanda said while she was flipping through some paperwork. "Lee I found something."

"What did you find," Lee said as he quickly walked over to where Amanda was.

"It's Rusnik's registration form." Amanda said.

Lee sighed and said, "He could have filled that out at any time. That doesn't prove that he's here!"

"Lee don't you remember? We had to fill in the registration form when we arrived." Amanda said excitedly. "Look, he dated it. Its the same day that we arrived. This proves that he's here somewhere!"

"Yeah but where?" asked Lee as he stared off into space until something caught his eye.

"Amanda look at this," Lee said as he walked over and pointed to a map on the wall.

"It's just a map Lee."

"Yeah but it's a map of the camp grounds. See right here, that's the main lodge, those are the main cabins where we're sleeping and those show all the smaller cabin's for the other couples." Lee continued to study the map. "We've searched all these places," he said as he moved his hands over the map marking off the areas of which they had already searched.

"Lee, look over here," Amanda said as she pointed to a corner on the map. "What's this area? We haven't searched over there yet."

Lee looked at the map closer. "It looks like that's another section of the camp. But we've been over there, remember? There's a fence that blocks that part of the camp off. I thought it was the boundary of the campsite, but look, there's some more cabins over there. We'll have to go and check it out after breakfast."

"Speaking of breakfast, we need to go and join the rest of the couples or I'll starve to death." Amanda said as her stomach began to rumble.

"Ok, come on. Let's go. It wouldn't look good if I allowed my wife to starve to death on our couple's seminar now would it?" Lee smiled at Amanda and took her hand. He opened the door to the office and made sure that the coast was clear and they walked casually out of the office and joined the rest of the couples eating breakfast.

After breakfast, Lee and Amanda took a casual stroll out into the woods. They walked towards the spot they saw on the map. Lee was right. That part of the campgrounds was blocked off. There was a wire fence blocking their way. Lee and Amanda could see people walking around in the secluded spot but they couldn't get a close enough look to see if any of those people were Rusnik.

"We've got to get closer," Amanda said.

"I know but we can't do it now. Its broad daylight and there is nothing around here to cover us if we can get over there." Lee said as he examined the area.

"We could climb the fence but that barb wire at the top would be difficult to get over." Amanda said as she pointed to the top of the fence.

"Let's continue walking along the fence. There's got to be a way that those people got over there. Like a gate or something." Lee said. He led the way as Amanda walked behind him along the narrow pathway along the fence. Lee stopped suddenly when he spotted movement ahead of him, and he motioned for Amanda to stop and to crouch down beside him.

"There's the gate, and there's the guard," Lee whispered. "That's probably where they're keeping Rusnik." After watching the guard for a few minutes, Lee said "Come on let's head back to camp. We can tell Billy what we've found before the session."

Silently Amanda and Lee slipped away and headed back to camp. They discussed different options on how to get past the guard. Lee wanted to knock out the guard and waltz into the came ground, but Amanda pointed out that they didn't know who the other people were and they could be walking into a trap. They needed more information before they went over there. By the time that they arrived back at the camp, they were running late and didn't have a chance to speak to Billy. Quickly they found their group and sat down and turn towards Nicole as she spoke to all the couples.

"Welcome back everyone, I hope everyone is still in good spirits after our last group session," said Nicole as she looked around at all the couples. "Before we begin our sessions today, I want to introduce you to Lana. Lana is our counsellor here at Daydreams Resorts. She will be helping Timothy and myself with your group sessions." Nicole said as she introduced Svetlana. "Today we are going to continue on with our group sharing. Is everyone back in the same group that they were in yesterday?" She looked around and saw everyone nod yes. "K, Good. Today I want each person to share with the rest of the group, where they think they would be if they hadn't met their spouse."

Amanda stifled a giggle as she heard a groan coming from all the men in her group. Lee had a look on his face as he looked up to the sky as if to say "why me?" while Billy looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Amanda caught Jeanine's eye and she smiled at the look of amusement on Jeanine's face as she looked at her husband. Amanda looked at the reactions of the rest of the group and almost laughed when Wendy leaned over and whispered to her "What does she mean if we had never met? Why wouldn't we have met? We were destined to be together! We're soulmates!"

Lisa and David were the first couple to speak. They shared the fact that they had been married for thirty five years, so it was hard for them to imagine not being married to each other. Both however, felt that if they hadn't met, then they would have probably met someone else and gotten married. Both of them agreed that they were never meant to be alone. "I was raised that the purpose of a woman is to find a husband to love and to look after. " Lisa said. "Besides I desperately wanted a family. So if it wasn't with David then it would have been someone else."

Both Wendy and Phil thought that if they hadn't met each other that they would have stayed single. "She was the only woman to think that my dancing jaw joke was funny." Phil stated.

"Dancing jaw joke?" Lee whispered in Amanda's ear.

"Don't ask," Amanda whispered back.

Amanda was interested in hearing what Billy and Jeanine had to say. She hadn't had a lot of opportunities to speak with Jeanine. It was always in passing, small talk really. But she always heard the way the Billy spoke about Jeanine. Always with love and respect in his voice. He loved his job but, she knew that he hated it when it intruded on his private time with his wife and family.

"If I hadn't met Jean I'm not sure where I would be. I'd probably be thirty pounds lighter!" Billy joked.

"You mean you would have been thirty pounds heavier and you would have died from a heart attack. William was a complete bachelor. Always eating out. When we started dating I would cook him home cooked meals." Jeanine said as she looked at her husband.

"That's why I married her. She can cook a mean steak!" Billy chuckled.

Jeanine smiled at her husband, "I make sure that he eats something other than Tums, which he doesn't think I know about!" Billy pretended to look off into the sky not daring to look at his wife. Amanda and Lee both chuckled at Billy.

"Anyways, Jean is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I would never want to imagine where I would be if we hadn't met." Billy finished.

"You're such a romantic," Jeanine said as she kissed her husband.

"Jean what about you? Where would you be if you hadn't met your husband?" asked Lisa.

"Me? Well I had just gotten out of a relationship when I first met William, and I had just sworn off men. I was determined to make my job a real priority. So I would probably be working and I would have found a job overseas or something like that. I'm not sure though I would have ever gotten married though. It's hard to find someone that really understands me and how important my job was to me. A lot of the men that I had dated wanted me to choose. Either them or the job. I always choose the job. It wasn't until I met William that I realized that I wanted to choose him over the job. William was ok with my decision to stay and continue working, but I wanted to be at home and help raise our family. I don't think I would have found that with anyone else."

"Amanda what about you? Where do you think you would have been if you hadn't meet Lee?" asked Billy.

"I'm not sure. I met Lee a year after my divorce, and I was dating Dean and he wanted to marry me. Who knows maybe I would have married him." Amanda said with a shrug.

"I told you that I didn't see the two of you together," said Lee smugly.

"There was nothing wrong with Dean, he was a gentleman." Amanda said defending Dean.

"He was boring Amanda. The man gave you bookends as a romantic gift one time. Remember when you got in that car accident and you didn't even remember Dan," pointed out Lee.

"Dean," corrected Amanda. "And if you recall I didn't remember you either."

"Ya but you remembered me faster than you remembered what's his name." Lee countered.

"You were dating someone else when you two met?" asked Wendy.

"Yup. His name was Dean. He was a lovely man. He loved me, and he loved my family. My mother thought he was great. My kids liked him."

"Didn't Phillip put sugar in his gas tank once?" interrupted Lee.

Amanda grimaced, "he did, but it was just a prank. Although that car never did run the same way after that." Amanda sighed. "I don't know, you never know, maybe I wouldn't have married Dean. At that time I was looking for my own identity and I wasn't ready to get married again. Mother kept on pushing it because she liked Dean, but I wasn't ready to be someone else's wife again." Amanda said as she thought about her past." I think maybe if I hadn't met Lee I would probably have been working at Honeycutt Typewriter and just raising my boys. I never planned on meeting someone and falling in love again. But he did. He came along, and he added that bit of mystery, and intrigue that I had always wanted in my life."

"Lee what about you? Where would you have been if you hadn't met Amanda?" asked Billy.

"Dead," Lee said matter-of-factly. "I was a different person when I met Amanda. I loved to take chances and live life to the fullest. Fast cars, fast women, lots of adventure. Always on the go. I really didn't have anyone that counted or depended on me. I had a couple good friends that always bailed me out of any jam that I got myself into, but no one that I would consider family. So I lived my life that way. Always on the edge. Always taking chances." Lee stopped for a second and spoke more softly as he said, "That all changed when I met Amanda. All of a sudden I had someone that was depending on me. Someone who really wanted to get to know me and didn't ulterior motives. She forced me to slow down and to think about the choices that I was making. I couldn't do things because it was what I wanted, and damn the consequences. Now I had to think about what was best for her as well."

Everyone sat in stunned silence after Lee made his confession. Amanda had tears running down her face, and she grasped Lee's hands in her own. She tried to look into his eyes but Lee didn't look back at her. He just stared off into the distance as he pulled his hands from her and played with a blade of grass. She had never imagined Lee would have admitted to something that personal, but she was glad that he had.

"Ok people. Has everyone had their turn?" interrupted Timothy. "Okay well if everyone in your group has had a turn, then you are dismissed for the afternoon."

Everyone stood up to leave, and Amanda was grateful. She wanted a chance to speak to Lee alone. But Lee quickly stood up and said, "Hey, I'll meet up with you at dinner. I've got to speak to Billy about what we found."

"Okay" Amanda answered, and watched him walk away.


	7. Chapter 6

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. I am grateful for all the positive reviews that I have received thus far. It's been helpful to know that people are enjoying my little tale. If you feel the need to flame, however, then please do so nicely. All feedback, positive or negative will be appreciated.

There were no Beta readers since I have no idea on how to get one. If you are a Beta and you have the time to Beta this fanfic then please send me an email, or if you know how to get a Beta then please send me an email on how to do it.

Author note: I just wanted to say thank you to those of you that sent me an email to ask if I was going to update this story. Life can be life sometimes, and I suffered a lose of a member of the family. But hopefully I am back on track again, or at least I can use this as a source of healing. I hope that this short update was worth the wait.

Chapter 6

Billy and Jeanine were walking hand in hand back towards their cabin. Each of them was determined to spend some more alone time with each other while they had the chance. It was like each of these couple sessions that they attended brought back a spark to their relationship.

"Hey William, can I speak with you for a minute? One married man to another?" Lee called out as he quickly caught up with the happy couple.

Billy sighed quietly and looked apologetically to his wife and said, "Sure why not." He gave Jeanine a kiss and watched as she walked alone back to their cabin.

"This had better be good Scarecrow," Billy mumbled quietly to Lee.

"Oh it is," Lee replied back smiling down at his boss. He saw the look that Billy had shared with his wife and he knew what he was interrupting.

"Ok, what is it?" Billy asked.

"I just wanted to pick your brain on married life. You know what it's like, what I can expect? What's the secret to a happy marriage?" Lee asked innocently.

"That's what you called me away from my wife for?" Billy asked incredulously. He was just about to start yelling at Lee when he was interrupted.

"Yes, and I wanted to show you what Amanda and I found this morning. It could be a lead to Rusnik," Lee said quietly.

Billy quickly quieted down and said, "Well we are here to learn from each other tips on how to have a happy married life. Walk with me and I'll tell you what little I know on how to keep your wife happy."

Lee and Billy began walking as Billy began to share his little insights on marriage. When they were sure that they were safe enough away from the others of the camp that no one would over hear what they were really discussing, Lee quickly informed Billy what they had discovered that morning.

"So there's another campground," Billy mused as he began to pace in the wood clearing where they held their nightly meetings. "We've got to find a way over there without arising anyone's suspicions."

"We could go over there tonight, once everyone has gone to sleep," said Lee.

"No, I agree with Amanda on this one. It's too dangerous to just waltz over there with no information. We don't know how many guards they have walking around over there, nor do we know for certain if Rusnik is staying there."

"Have you spoken with Fielder yet?" asked Lee.

"He hasn't come up with anything yet. So far everyone who works here is clean."

"I don't know about that Billy. Something just doesn't feel right. Someone here must be dirty or they wouldn't have Rusnik holed up in another part of this so called couple's retreat." Lee fumed.

"What's wrong Scarecrow, are the therapy sessions getting to you? If you would just go to your yearly sessions with Dr Phaff like you're supposed to, instead of making up excuses, you would feel more comfortable discussing your feelings," Billy teased.

"Billy, this is just a case we're working on. Just a cover," Lee said slightly uncomfortable.

"I know it's just a cover, but do you know that it's just a cover?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Lee staring at his boss.

"You seem to be very comfortable in the role of a husband," Billy said knowingly. "You're even participating in the group sessions, and that session today was very illuminating."

Lee didn't say anything. He knew what he had said in the session that afternoon and he wasn't sure if he was ready to discuss it further. "We should ask Francine to go and have a chat with the guard that is posted near the other campground's entrance. She might be able to get him to tell her who's over there or at least how to be included over there."

Billy looked at Lee for a moment, noting that Lee had changed the topic, but he didn't pursue it further. "I'll talk to Francine and set it up. Hopefully she'll get something out of him tonight. Tell Amanda that there won't be a meeting tonight. We'll meet up sometime tomorrow morning. I want you and me to meet up tonight and take turns watching the gate. Maybe we'll figure out a way to sneak past the guard and get a chance to look around over there."

"Amanda and I can do that tonight. You don't need to leave Jeanine to come out on a stake out," Lee started to protest.

Billy smiled at Lee, "I'm sure that you and Amanda could handle it, but tonight is that big women's lecture. All the women in the camp will be having a seminar at the main lodge. While they're there, that should leave some opportunity to try to slip over to the other campsite."

"What big women's seminar?" asked Lee. "Why don't I know anything about this?"

"It's in your itinerary. Didn't you read it?" asked Billy.

Lee groaned and shook his head. Amanda had tried to get him to read all the brochures when they first arrived but he had been too keyed up with Rusnik to read anything.

"The women all meet at 8:00 tonight. I think I heard someone say that the new counsellor is going to be holding some sort of seminar. That should give us a couple of hours."

"That new counsellor, what is her name, Lana?" asked Lee. "Did she seem familiar to you?"

"Familiar? How? Did you recognize her?" asked Billy anxiously.

"No. Nothing specific. Just that she reminds me of someone." Lee mused.

"Do you know her from an old case? Do you think she can ID you as an agent?" asked Billy.

"I don't know Billy. I can't place her. But there is just something about her… "

"Something about her huh? Just remember that you're now a married man," Billy said as he looked as Lee. He almost missed the strange look of fear that crossed Lee's face. Billy quickly sighed and misread the look as one of a confirmed bachelor feeling pressed to grow up and get married, "Ok, then we'll have to keep an eye on her at all times. I don't want anything to blow our chances with Rusnik."

"No problem Billy. I'll meet you back here at 8:00pm," Lee said as they walked back towards Billy's cabin.

"Thank you for those insights into marriage. I'm sure that they'll be really helpful," Lee said as he stood outside Billy's cabin. He nodded goodbye to Billy and he began to walk towards his own cabin. He had a feeling it was going to be a long night, and he wanted to get some rest before dinner. Lee headed back to his cabin and was grateful that it was empty. All the other men were outside spending time with their wives before dinner leaving Lee to drift off into an uneasy sleep.

"_I thought you said that there were no Agency people here?" Svetlana asked looking straight into her brother-in-law's eyes._

"_There aren't any," Timothy said barely keeping himself from flinching as he tried to matched the intensity in Svetlana's gaze. In her eyes no life existed, only a blank stare. She was unpredictable and he had learned the hard way that he always had to be careful around her. Family or not._

"_That man Steadman he is Agency. I've seen him before," Svetlana said as she broke eye contact and began to pace inside of her small cabin._

"_Where have you seen him?" asked Timothy quickly before he could catch himself._

_Svetlana snapped her head back to look upon her brother-in-law for a minute before she decided to respond. "It doesn't matter where I've seen him, nor how I know that he is Agency. It only matters that he is here now and I'm sure that he isn't here for some stupid couple's retreat. I'm not sure about his wife. She doesn't look like the type to be an Agent but I've been wrong before. But I did catch her sneaking into her cabin late last night after I arrived."_

"_I'll have someone keep a watch on both of them." Timothy promised. He knew he had to react quickly to the news that the retreat had been infiltrated by agents. He knew that if he didn't, the price he would have to pay would be his life. The only question would be who would be the one to take his life, the Agency or Svetlana. He knew if he was given a choice he would prefer it to be the Agency._

"_Good. Keep me posted. I believe now is the time that you are having that Women's Meeting in the main lodge. I should head there now. Maybe I can find out more information about our lovely Mrs Steadman." Svetlana said with a hallow sense of cheeriness. Without another word, she walked out of her cabin leaving Timothy to stare silently behind her._


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you that sent me a private note with your condolances. It was very much appreciated. It's a bit strange to get that support from complete strangers. But like all thinks that has to do with SMK we are not strangers. We are just members of a larger family, and your kind words brought that message to me loud and clear. For that I would like to say thank you again for your support. Also we have a new addition to the family, a new baby girl (not mine! Although she is soo cute I wish that she was!) Just another reminder that even when one life passes it just makes room for another member to come into our lives!

Feedback: Yes please. But this is my first fanfac so please be kind. If you are going to flame then do it nicely. All feedback is appreciated. I would also like to thank Jeannine - My new Beta! Ya I got a volunteer for the thankless job! Thank you for taking the time to read my little story and give me your input. I hope that the new couple sentences were what you were looking for...

Chapter 7

"Come on Francine. The women's meeting in the lodge begins in 10 minutes, and I want to get a good seat!" called out a frustrated Amanda as they quickly walked over the main lodge.

"Really Amanda, do you think that there is anything in that meeting that will benefit me?" Francine said with a resigned look on her face. "There is nothing in that meeting that will benefit me. I mean what are they going to discuss? How to be the perfect woman? I already know all of that! Although, I think you could pick up a couple tips!"

Amanda rolled her eyes at Francine but let the subject drop. Most days she could handle Francine's comments but today she was more interested in the topics of what would be discussed than forming a retort back. Francine and Amanda quickly entered into the packed main lodge and managed to find a couple seats near the back of the main hall. The room was buzzing as all the women whispered amongst themselves, each wondering what would be the topic on hand for that night.

"Ladies, Ladies," called out Nicole as she tried to get everyone's attention. The buzzing of the room drowned her out and her call went unheeded.

"Quiet!" yelled out Svetlana, and at once the room went silent. She gazed across the crowded room with cold calculated eyes, and pasted a false smile on her face that did nothing to warm up the look in her eyes. "Thank you. "

"Now that I have everyone's attention," began Nicole. "I just want to first say thank you to everyone for coming out here this week and participating in our sessions. I'm married myself and I know it's not easy to discuss the inner workings of a marriage with a group of strangers. I also know that there are also issues that we, as women, have about being married or wanting to become married that we don't feel comfortable discussing in front of your husbands. So today's meeting is actually going to be a group discussion. I want everyone or anyone that has things that they want to say or ask about, to bring it up now. Both Lana and I will help with some of the answers but we want to hear from you all as well. We are all women and we need to learn from each other."

As Nicole was speaking to the crowd of women, Lana slowly walked around the room, glancing here and there. Each time stopping to look in closer detail at some woman that was close to the image that she held in her head. Always searching until she found her prey. She spotted Amanda sitting near the back of the room sitting close to a blond hair woman. Svetlana could tell by both of their body language that they were familiar with each other. Whether or not they knew each other before they arrived at the campsite or afterwards, she was unsure. Either way, Svetlana made a mental note of the blond woman, intent on speaking with her brother-in-law to have her watched as well. Upon finding whom she was looking for, Svetlana positioned herself in the room so that she could keep Amanda and the blond woman in her line of vision and forced her mind to focus on the discussion amongst the women.

"Such mindless dribble!" thought Svetlana. "These women know nothing of what it means to sacrifice. Spoiled all of them! Only thinking of themselves under the guise of wanting nothing more than to have a happy and successful marriage. The only reason they wanted to have a picture perfect marriage, was because then they could hold it as a source of power over other women. If they have the perfect marriage then they themselves would be perfect by reflection!" Svetlana shook her head slightly, as if to clear the thoughts out of her mind. She already knew where her train of thought was heading, and she wanted to stay focus on the task at hand and not start to deal on other things. She couldn't afford to feel anything right now.

"Billy are you here?" whispered Lee as he snuck into the clearing in the woods. It had taken longer than he had anticipated to sneak out of the camp. Since all the women were at the meeting, all the men were now finding more creative ways to fill the empty void. Someone had snuck in some wine and beer and now they were now drinking in front of a bonfire as they all sang beer chugging songs. Lee had participated only long enough for it to seem like he was part of the group. Once people began to get more rowdy and it looked like he could slip away unnoticed, he quickly made his escape into the woods.

"I'm here. What took you so long?" asked Billy as he walked in front of one of the trees that he had been hiding behind.

"Drunken men and a bonfire! Need I say anymore?" asked Lee with frustration evident in his voice.

Billy chuckled and nodded his head. "Well I got a chance to speak with Francine before she left for her meeting. She made contact with the guard, but she didn't get that much out of him. Apparently there are more couples on that side of the campsite but the guard didn't know why they weren't part of the main group. She wasn't able to get confirmation that Rusnik was there though. The guard said that none of the couples ever came close to where he was stationed. He was jus t there to make sure that no one came into the campsite unannounced."

"So what is the plan Billy?" Lee said with a sigh. He was starting to get tired of this case, and their constant lack of information.

"We're to observe the guards movements and see if we can find a weakness in their defences. We need to find a way over to that campsite that won't arouse suspicion. We don't want to tip our hand and announce that we are here, until we find Rusnik."

"This is going to be a long night!" sighed Lee again as he and Billy approached their final destination, close to the guarded entrance of the next campsite. Quietly he and Billy found hiding spots in the bushes and each took a turn watching the guards. While one spied on the guard, the other would look around to see if there were places along the fence that would allow them to cross over to the other campsite without having to pass the guards. After a fruitless couple of hours of searching and spying, Billy and Lee were ready to call it a night. They were able to note that there were two guards at night time as 

apposed to only one guard during the day time. One guard would stay near the gate and guard it at all times, while the other guard would take a periodic walk around to make sure that the site was secure. They noticed that the guard would make a round, would first take a walk at 15 minutes past the hour, then 5 minutes after that, and then 20 minutes after that. Then they would repeat that same cycle during the next hour.

Once they were satisfied that they had learned everything that they could learn from watching the gate, Lee and Billy quietly made there way back to the clearing. Each lost in their own thoughts, not daring to speak until they were sure that they were far away from everyone.

"There isn't any way to get over there. There seems to be a guard posted at the gate at all times, and they have a guard that walks around at a set pattern. If we were able to get over there we would have a max of 35 minutes to walk around over there without getting caught." Lee summarized.

"Even if we were to get over there, we would need to know exactly where to look. We can't just go barging into people's cabin unannounced without getting caught." Billy added. "We need more to go on."

Lee ran his and through his hair as he stared out into space. He wanted this case to be over. He had a bad feeling about this case and he couldn't put his finger on what was bothering him. "Billy did you find out any information about Lana?"

"No, not yet. So far Beaman has cleared her. Do you still think you've met her somewhere?" Billy said as he looked at Lee, apprehension was again lining his face, and for the first time since they had arrived at the resort, his ulcers began to bother him.

"I don't know Billy. It's just something about her. Maybe she reminds me of someone. But I just can't put my finger on it yet." Lee mused.

"Let's just be on the safe side for now. Stay away from her as much as you can. If you recognize her, we run the very real risk that she will recognize you as well. And if she makes you as an Agent there goes our whole plan." Billy cautioned. Lee nodded his head in agreement.

"Alright. We should head back now before someone notices that we're gone. The meeting should be done by now." Lee said as he looked down at his watch.

"Ok," Billy agreed, but before Lee could start walking towards the camp grounds, he put a hand on Lee's arm to stop his movement. "Before you go, there is just something I wanted to say."

Lee looked over to Billy with confusion on his face. "What is it Billy?"

"It's about what you had to say in the session this afternoon." Billy began, already sensing Lee's discomfort. "I had hoped that when I had paired you up with Amanda that you would finally start to slow down. There chances that you took after Eric's death.. . I think that was when my ulcers first began." Both Lee and Billy chuckled.

"After Eric's death I was beginning to worry that you would end up dead, or worse you would cause someone else to be injured while you were working on a case. You needed to slow down but you wouldn't hear of it. Always going of on your own, getting into trouble. But I'm glad that you finally grew up and I'm grateful that something or someone was able to get you to slow down and take some sort of pre-cautions. Lee, she's been a good influence on you in all areas of your life. I just hope that you fully realize how important she is to you as a team, and as a person."

Lee stood there silently listening to his boss, quietly looking down at his feet with his hands behind his back. He looked Billy in the eyes and acknowledged what he said with a nod of his head, unable to speak.

Billy sensed that was going to be all Lee would listen to and silently led the way back to the camp site, ready to blend into the chaos that greeted them as all the drunken men had begun dancing around the bonfire.

Unseen in the darkness of the night, a lone figure spied the two men as they walked discreetly from out of the woods and began to integrate themselves back into the gathering of men. "Gotcha!" she thought silently, as she made her way back towards her cabin.


	9. Chapter 8

"Good morning sweetheart," greeted Amanda her husband as she emerged from her cabin.

"Morning Amanda," Lee replied and kissed her quickly on the lips. Part of him still felt a bit strange to be able to kiss his wife so openly knowing that his boss and co-worker were close by.

"How was your night with the other men from the resort?" asked Amanda as she led them towards the woods, intent on spending some time alone with Lee away from prying ears. Amanda was anxious to hear what had happened on the stake out the night before, while she was at the group women's meeting.

"Ahh, you know. Just us men being men. We had a bonfire and some beer. We bonded in the way that men always do." Lee replied as he walked with his hand at the small of her back.

"So I guess then you didn't miss me then now did you?" asked Amanda teasingly.

"Now I didn't say that now did I?" asked Lee. "If it wasn't for Rusnik we could be enjoying some alone time together as husband and wife, and we wouldn't need to pretend to pretend to be married. We could really be married, if you know what I mean," Lee said with a slight grin on his face as he looked longingly at wife.

"I think we have been spending too much time together," Amanda said with a giggle. "Now you're starting to sound like me!"

"When it comes to us spending time together, there is no such thing as spending too much time together. But I know what you mean, I think the lack of sleep is starting to get to me." Lee said as he rubbed the back of his neck. Once he had arrived back at his cabin from the stake out with Billy, he had tossed and turned all night. There was something that was nagging him about this case and he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

Once they had walked far enough away from the rest of the crowd, and they could speak privately. Amanda began to question Lee as to what happened with Billy on the stake out. Lee told Amanda what little information that they had gathered on the routine of the guard and their inability to find another way over to the other campsite.

"Time is running out, and we need to find Rusnik before he goes back home!" Lee said as he paced in the small wood clearing.

"I'm sure that we'll come up with something," Amanda said as she tried to cheer up Lee. "Did you sleep at all last night? You seem to be more on edge than you normally are when you're working a case." Amanda looked carefully at Lee and took him his tired looking eyes and posture.

"I, uhhhh. You know I can't sleep properly when I'm sleeping beside my beautiful wife," Lee said with his trademark grin as he leaned in for a kiss.

"Ahh," Amanda said as she held up her hand to stop Lee from kissing her. "We sleep apart more than we sleep together, and you normally don't have a problem then. So spill it buster!"

"Did you just hear what you just said?" asked Lee still trying to distract his wife. "We sleep apart more than we sleep together. Don't you think there is something wrong with that statement?"

"Yes, but you know why we do that. We both felt it was what was best … Ha stop right there. Don't think you're fooling me by trying to change the subject." Amanda said while she looked accusingly at Lee.

Lee sighed began to pace again in the clearing. "There is just something about this case that is bothering me. Too many unknowns. We don't know if Rusnik is even here. We don't know if he really wants to defect. We don't have any idea on what information Rusnik really has, nor do we even know if it was really even him that contacted us saying that he wanted to defect. And then there is that Lana woman…" Lee said as he stared distractedly at the sky. "There is just something about her that is very familiar to me. I just can't quite figure it out just yet."

"Do you think she could have been someone you met on a previous case?" asked Amanda.

"No I don't think so." Lee said with a shake of his head.

"Maybe she is someone that you dated?" asked Amanda.

Lee responded with a slight laugh. "I may have dated a bit before we became married, but I do remember all the women that I did date. And she is definitely not one of them!"

"A bit? Four really big black books worth of dating," Amanda said teasingly as she turned to wards her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"What little black books are you referring to?" Lee said as he grinned down at his wife and leaned in for a quick kiss. "You know that all women pale in comparison to you, don't you?"

"I'm not worried about any of them. You married me, and that's all that mattered," Amanda said as she smiled up at her husband and kissed him again.

Timothy spied on his sister-in-law from a distance. He had to be careful. He didn't want to risk letting her know that he was watching her. There was something very strange about her this morning. She had informed him that she had seen two men sneaking out of the woods late last night. Now he was waiting on everyone to gather and have breakfast so she could identify to two men.

He didn't understand Lana. When they had first met, she was a spitfire. She found enjoyment in everything that she did. It was one of the main reasons that he had been attracted to her. He had thought he would love her forever, but all of that had changed when they had lost their son. She changed, and so did he. Now if felt as if they had never met before. She kept him at a distance and he had solace with her sister. When they lost their son, she had lost her reason to live, and found no enjoyment now in life and what it had to give.

When Lana had told him that they had to find the men that were in the woods, he had noticed a change in her mood. It almost bordered on excitement. He knew that meant bad news. She only got excited when the idea of a kill was to take place, and he knew without asking that those men that had been in the woods, days were now numbered.

"So glad that you could join the rest of us," commented Francine as she stood in front of Amanda and Lee as they joined the line up for breakfast.

"Good morning to you too Francine." Lee said cheerfully. "Did you get up on the wrong side of someone today? Oh that's right, you're here learning how to be the perfect woman. Maybe once you perfect that you can really wake up on the right side of someone for a change."

Amanda snickered as Francine shot them both with a dirty look and grabbed her metal food tray and moved along the line.

"Good morning Amanda, Lee," said a voice from behind. Both Amanda and Lee turned around and looked at Lisa.

"Why Lisa, good morning." Asked Amanda, and Lee echoed her good morning.

"How are you and David this morning?" asked Amanda, as Lee continued along with he metal food tray.

"Oh David is fine. Just fine. He's a bit grouchy this morning though. I think the men got too excited last night though" Lisa said with a chuckle. Amanda grinned as well. They continued to chat in comfortable companionship as they moved along the food line.

"You and your husband are so cute together." Lisa said as she looked over at Lee waving to Amanda to the seats that he had picked out for them. "You both remind me of me and David when we were first married. We were so in love. Still in love," she said quickly at Amanda's questioning look. "But it took some work mind you. There was a time when I thought we weren't going to make it, but this place saved us. The things we learnt here. If they didn't send us to the other campsite to work on our marriage we would probably have been divorced by now. Now you go and sit with you husband while I go find my own." And with that Lisa walked towards her husband while Amanda just stood there watching.


	10. Chapter 9

"Lee

"Lee. Lee!" Amanda hissed at her husband to get his attention as she sat down beside him.

Lee quickly looked over at Amanda with a questioning look in his eyes. "What is it Amanda. I was just talking to William here about how our group session won't be in the afternoon today." He looked over at Billy and Jeanine with a smile on his face. For some reason he felt as if he was being watched and he wanted to be careful as to what he said that morning.

"Oh, hello William. Jeanine. How are you both this morning?" Amanda turned towards Billy and his wife with a smile on her face as well. She didn't want to be rude and ignore her boss and his wife at the table.

"We are both fine Amanda dear." Jeanine answered.

"Lee, sir, I think I found something." Amanda whispered as she bent her head down and leaned across the table slightly.

"Not here Amanda," Lee said with gritted teeth. "I think someone is watching us. Just smile and eat your breakfast."

Amanda smiled awkwardly and nodded slightly and began to eat her breakfast. She carried on light conversation with the other people at the table all the while slightly squirming in her seat to try and get a glimpse of who could be keeping a closer eye on them.

"Amanda. Amanda dear," Lee said with slight exasperation in his voice, and when he could get Amanda's attention, "Amanda! Can you quit it! Stop squirming. You'll only make it more obvious. I already know who's watching me."

"Who," Amanda asked feeling a bit guilty.

"I'll tell you once we finish breakfast and head outside. We'll be able to have more freedom then to chat," Lee said as he leaned in closer and whispered in his wife's ear.

"You mentioned that they cancelled the group session for this afternoon?" Amanda said as she tried to concentrate on something else.

"Yes." Jeanine answered. "They are going to have it right after breakfast."

"Why the change in schedule?" asked Lee.

"No clue. But I don't think it should be a problem." Billy answered. "We just won't be able to meet up until after the group session. Beside this way we should have a reason to meet up, and pretend to be continuing whatever the topic was at this morning session."

"Has anyone seen Francine?" Amanda said as she quickly looked over all the heads in the lunch room.

"I spoke to her this morning. She had to leave early this morning. She was summoned by Blue Leader." Billy said with a small grin and shake to his head. "I've never seen Francine pack as fast as she did. She couldn't wait to leave this place!"

"Is everything alright?" asked Lee. "Does it have to do with our friend?"

"From what little I information that I gathered it doesn't have anything to do with him. A separate situation," Billy said quietly. "Now my dear, I do believe that we have enough time for a quick walk around the camp grounds before our group session. " Billy said as he got up from the table. He held out one hand for his wife and gathered up their dinning trays in the other hand. "It was a very long night and I miss sleeping beside you!" Billy said with a wink.

Lee and Amanda both laughed out loud as Jeanine pretended to slap her husband on the arm. "William, there are youngsters at the table."

"Ahh… They're married, they know about such things," Billy said with a knowing look at both Lee and Amanda. Neither Lee nor Amanda looked at each other and kept a blank expression on both of their faces. They watched as Billy left with Jeanine hand in hand.

"I do believe that now it's our turn for that quick walk." Lee said as he held out his hand to Amanda.

"I can't Lee. I'll meet up with you at the group session. I have to catch up with Lisa. I'll explain when I see you," Amanda said quickly as she saw Lisa move away from the tables. And with that Amanda gave a very surprised Lee a quick kiss on the cheek and rushed after Lisa, leaving her husband staring dumbfounded after her.

"Lisa. Lisa." Amanda called out as she quickly walked past other couples.

"Oh! Hello dear. " Lisa said as she turned around to see who was calling out her name.

"Hi, do you have a moment? I have a couple questions about what you said earlier." Amanda said quickly.

A look of confusion crossed over Lisa's face, "what did I say to you earlier?"

"Oh, you know, how you and David had a bit of a rough patch, and this place helped to fix it." Amanda said quickly. She didn't want to jump right into what she really wanted to know. She knew she had to ease into it.

"Oh you don't have to worry yourself about something like that. It was just regular marriage stuff, The things that come up in all marriages," Lisa said with a gentle pat on Amanda's arm as they both continued to walk back towards their cabins.

"I know its personal, and I don't mean to pry but this is my second marriage and I want to make sure that I don't have another failed marriage," Amanda said as she pretended to be slightly frightened of the unknown.

"Oh, of course dear. Of course," Lisa said sympathetically. "Let's talk inside my cabin. David met up with a friend from last year and he'll be gone until its time for the meeting. We should have some privacy there." She quickly led the way to her cabin and allowed Amanda entrance inside.

Amanda quickly looked around the room and made a mental note of its furnishings. One double bed and a side table with a lamp on it. There was nothing really roomy about the room except for the touch of a patch made quilt that was folded at the bottom of the bed.

"It's not how the home is furnished," Lisa said as she noted Amanda's gaze, "its how you make the atmosphere feel that makes a home."

"Oh I didn't say anything," Amanda said slightly embarrassed. "I was just thinking how to make the room homier."

Lisa smiled at Amanda "I had the same expression on my face when I first saw the room, that's why I always bring up my quilt to make it feel a bit more like home!" Both she and Amanda laughed. "Now have a seat on the bed and tell me what you're interested in. I can't imagine you doubting your husband's love for you. It's very obvious to everyone that he loves you. You can see it in his eyes when he looks at you!"

Amanda blushed at Lisa's comments, and was secretly pleased. "No I don't doubt his love for me. We love each other very much but we do have these huge problems with our marriage and so far we haven't managed to discuss them in these sessions. All we ever do is focus on the good things. The things that are working for us."

"Well, how can you work through all the things that aren't working until you constantly remind yourself of what does work, and why you both are so good together?" Lisa responded with an air of knowledge as she sat comfortably beside Amanda.

"I know but sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it," Amanda said as she quickly thought of how to lead Lisa to the information that she was really interested in.

"Oh dear, marriage is tough. You already know that. You've already been married. You know what it takes to make a marriage work. David and I had problems communicating. If either one of us had a problem we wouldn't discuss it. We would just say everything was fine and brush it under the rug, until one day I woke up and looked in the mirror and I didn't recognize the person that I saw. I had become a 'Yes dear, anything you want dear' wife. I had lost my own identity. I didn't want to give up on my marriage so when a friend of mine mentioned this place I just knew it was the place for us. I dragged David here and we really began to talk, and he really listened to what I had to say. This place saved our marriage."

"Oh that's wonderful." Amanda gushed playing along. "You mentioned at breakfast that there was another campsite? I don't recall reading anything about another campsite in any of the reading material."

"Well the other campsite is not as advertised dear. It's for couples that have severe relationships problems. Its here on this site but it's at a different section. What the counsellor wants to do is separate the feuding couples from everyone else so that their negative energy doesn't impact everyone else. On the other campsite they have other counsellors there that really help you focus on what you and your husband needs on an individual basis."

"Oh. I never knew about that." Amanda said, she allowed her mind to think quickly. Lisa had just began to touch on the very topic she was interested in. "I guess since both Lee and I are still on this side of the campsite then that means we're in good shape then?"

"Why, most definitely!" Lisa chuckled. "But if something were to happen then rest assured they will pull you out of this group and put you over there." Lisa patted Amanda on her hand that was resting on her lap. "Now put all those negative feeling out of your mind and just focus on that handsome husband of yours. Tell me where did you meet me?"

"I uhhh…" Amanda started to say still mulling over what Lisa had just told her, when the door to the cabin burst in.

"Lisa! Oh there you are," called out David as he strode into the room not seeing Amanda at first. "They're about to start the group sessions! We better get a move on it! Oh hello Amanda. I didn't know that you were here."

"Hello David. Sorry but I borrowed your wife for a little bit of girl talk."

"Oh no problem, but you had better get a rush on it as well. Your husband's been looking for you as well!" David said with a smile on his face.

"Oh dear. I better get going," Amanda said quickly. She turned to face Lisa and gave her a quick hug. "Thank you for letting me bend your ear for a little bit."

"Anytime my dear, anytime." Lisa said. "Now hurry on now. David and I will be there in a second."

"One of the women that you wanted me to watch has left Svetlana," Timothy said as he stood behind her in the woods.

"What reason did she give?" Svetlana said without turning around.

"Family emergency," Timothy said, feeling more and more uncomfortable as he stood behind her. He couldn't see her face and see what kind of mood she was in.

"What about the others?" Svetlana asked quietly still staring out into the blankness of the woods.

"We're still keeping an eye on them. So far they haven't gathered as a group other than at breakfast."

"Good. Continue to keep an eye on them. I want to be kept informed of their every move."

"As you wish," Timothy nodded slightly and backed away from Svetlana anxious to be out of her company.

Svetlana felt the nervousness that had radiated from Timothy and it had made her smile. She couldn't believe that she had fallen in love with such a weak man like him. He was better off with her sister. She was weak-minded as well. They deserved each other. She was one of the strongest of the three women in her family, and she would do anything to make sure that she got what she felt she deserved. But her mind still continued to betray her. Always dwelling on those she had lost during her life. First her son, then her lover, and then her sister. She had made those that had taken her son away from her pay for their sins. An eye for an eye… A life for a life… A son for a son. She had hardened her heart to her former lover and felt nothing for him anymore. And now she had the opportunity to make the one who took her sister away from her pay. "A love for a love. What was more beautiful than that?" She thought with a sinister laugh.


	11. Chapter 11

I know it's been ages since I've last posted. But someone was kind enough to send me an email letting me know they were still interested in my little tale, so I've decided to continue on and finish it. So I should be posting weekly until the story is completed.

Because it's been a while since I've posted, I may be a little rusty. So please forgive the errors. It'll improve with the next chapter.

"Lee, Lee," Amanda called out as she neared the men's cabin. But she couldn't find anyone around. She looked quickly down at her watch and realized that far more time had passed than she had realized. It was now afternoon and everyone was probably at the couples meeting. She quickly walked over to where her group was seated and sat down beside her husband.

When Amanda sat down, Lee looked up at surprise at her. "Where have you been?" Lee asked. "The meeting started 10 minutes ago."

Amanda looked over at Lee and said, "I'm sorry but I had to go for a walk and spend time with one of my friends." She paused for a moment and continued on rather loudly, "I am allowed to spend time with my friends right. You can't have every moment of every day."

"Amanda," Lee said slightly embarrassed, as he tried to calm down his excited wife. "Of course you're allowed to have your own friends. And no we don't have to spend every moment of the day together."

"Good, cause I needed some time to be by myself. I needed some time to think about us and this marriage." Amanda said even more loudly and now beginning to cry.

"Is there something that I can help you both with?" asked Timothy as he walked over to their group. He had heard Amanda's voice beginning to get louder and louder, starting to carry over the voices of others.

"No," Amanda said quickly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause a problem. But I'm just tired of everything."

"Tired of what?" asked Timothy as he knelt down beside Amanda and gently tried to open up.

"Tired of this secret, tired of hiding, tired of this marriage," Amanda said softly.

"Amanda," Lee pleaded completely bewildered about what was happening to his wife. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm tired that I'm a secret for you." Amanda wailed before she broke out into tears.

"Secret?" Lee asked and looked from Amanda to Billy and then back to Amanda again.

"Our marriage is a secret, you can't even introduce me as your wife to your family and friends. You only want me around when you don't have to work. You're a stranger to my family. You won't even give up your bachelor pad and move into our home properly," Amanda said and took a huge gulp of air.

"Now wait just one minute," Lee began, "Our marriage is not a secret, and you and the kids are my family. And you know why I won't give up my apartment. It's closer to work, and besides you haven't even told your kids or your mom about us. They still think we're dating. I can't move into your house until you tell them we're married!"

"You wanted us to get married in secret!" Amanda continued to sob and leaned over to Timothy who put a comforting arm around Amanda's shoulders.

"Get it all out now." Timothy said softly. "tell Lee how your really feeling."

"He's been with all these women, these fancy and sophisticated women…" Amanda said with a shaky voice as she wiped her eyes with a tissue that Jeanine had given to her. "It's obvious that he would rather be with one of those kinds of women, and not a simple homemaker."

"Amanda," Lee began, "what are you talking about? You know those woman don't mean anything to me."

"I want divorce!" Amanda announced suddenly as she looked up at Lee.

"What???" Lee said in shock.

"You heard me. I want a divorce. I don't want to be married to a man that wants me to stay hidden in the dark from everyone around him." Amanda insisted, silently pleading that Lee would understand what she was trying to do.

"Amanda we just got married," Lee said quickly. "Can we discuss this further at another time?"

"No, I want a divorce and I want it now." Amanda insisted.

"Now, now everyone, let's just take a minute to breath and take a step back." Timothy said trying to calm everyone. "Lee, Amanda how about you both just come with me and we'll see if we can work this out." He helped Amanda up and gestured to Lee to follow them. He led them to a quiet corner and sat them both down.

"It's clear to me that your marriage is clearly in need of some further help. I can help you with that. There is another part of this retreat that we have set up for our more challenging of couples."Timothy said. "What I want each of you to do is go back to your cabin's and gather your things and then meet me back here in 10 minutes and I'll lead you over to the new campsite. Ok?"

Amanda and Lee both nodded as Lee tried to reach out and touch his wife, but she just pulled away. Silently they got up and walked towards their cabins to pack.


	12. Chapter 12

Lee and Amanda didn't say a word to each other as they walked towards their cabins. Lee tried a couple times to reach out to Amanda, but Amanda was in tears and just moved outside of his reach each time. Each of them were lost in their own thoughts but not able to voice them out loud.

Amanda felt horrible. She knew that she had completely blindsided Lee with her accusations but she didn't have much choice. She had found out how to get over to the other part of the island and she just knew that if she didn't try something drastic they would never have another chance. All she could do was hope that Lee would give her a chance to explain once they were alone with each other. Quickly, Amanda packed up her clothes and then walked outside, Lee was standing there by the door waiting for her, with a sad look on his face.

"Lee, I," Amanda began, but Lee just shook his head and reached for her bag and began walking back to the meeting site.

"Ok good you're both still here," Timothy said when Lee and Amanda came back to the meeting site. "Now that is a good sign. Other couples would have just gotten into their cars and just went home. But you're both still here, so that means you want to save your marriage to each other."

"I just don't think I can take another failed marriage." Amanda said quietly. "I want this one to work."

"Well this is the hardest step to take, and you've both made it. So let's lead you over to the other side of our lovely retreat and get you both settled into your new cabin."

"What is this other retreat that you keep mentioning?" asked Lee. "I thought that this was the camp?"

"We have another section of the camp that is designed for couples that need more individual attention." Timothy replied as he led them to a jeep that was parked near the main lodge. "We'll put you both in one cabin and you can begin the communication process. I will be scheduling one of our counselors to meet with you shortly so that we can get started immediately. "Timothy packed their bags in the jeep and motioned for them to join him. Within a few minutes, Timothy maneuvered the jeep through the camp grounds, and arrived in front of the armed guards of the second campsite.

"Why are their guards posted here?" asked Lee just after Timothy spoke briefly with the guard and then began to drive again.

"Oh nothing really. Just some extra security. Every now and then we have some sort of celebrity that requires extra protection. Nothing for you to be concerned about." Timothy replied nonchalantly, and continued to drive, missing the look that went between Lee and Amanda.

"Here you go," Timothy said as he stopped in front of one of the cabins near the front of the new site. He helped Amanda out of the jeep and both he and Lee grabbed their bags and walked into the new cabin. It was a bit smaller than the one that Jeannette and Billy had, but it was also a bit more cozier as well.

"Now, see if you can get a bit more settled in, and begin to start the communication process." Timothy said. "A lot of things were brought up in our group session today, and you both need to truly explore those feeling that you have about your marriage. Then when the counselor arrives then you can begin to

"Here you go, Mr & Mrs Steadman. This will be your new home for the next few days. We'll give you a chance to unpack, and a counselor will be with you shortly. We want to continue on with the progress that you both made earlier, and not let any resentment build up even further." Said Timothy.

"Do you know who our counselor will be?" asked Lee.

"It will be our new counselor Lana," Timothy replied. "Now if there isn't anything else I can help you with, I'll take my leave. Remember progress is only made when each of us take a step towards our common goal."

Lee and Amanda just stared at Timothy as he walked out the door. The moment the door closed behind him, Amanda turned to Lee and said, "Lee, I …"


	13. Chapter 13

Lee and Amanda just stared at Timothy as he walked out the door. The moment the door closed behind him, Amanda turned to Lee and said, "Lee, I …"

Lee shook his head and brought his finger up to his mouth. "Amanda, I know that this marriage has been hard on you, and you don't want another failed marriage." And he began to walk around the room and move things around. "Being married to a man like me, can be difficult. I've been a bachelor a long time." Lee said as he moved towards his bag and began to search for something.

"I can explain.."Amanda began again as she watched Lee.

"You don't need to explain your frustrations about me. I understand. I just want to make our marriage work. Isn't that the reason we came to this place?" asked Lee as he pulled out a black box. He pulled up the antenna, and turned on the machine. Lee used the box to sweep the entire cabin as he continued on with his conversation, "But I never wanted you to feel like you were a secret. You know you aren't. I've changed my entire life for you. I left my old job, and took a job at a security company so I could stay here in the city with you more."

"But we aren't together more. You still haven't moved in to our home yet." Amanda replied as she quickly understood what Lee was doing. "We haven't told our families that we're married."

"How could we explain to your family that you instantly fell in love with me, and that we eloped and got married."

"I don't know about that," Amanda replied. "I didn't exactly fall in love you with you at first sight."

"I think you did," Lee said slightly cocky, "I mean how could you not? With my dashing good looks, how could you have resisted?"

"Dashing good look? Not resist?" Amanda said incredulously. "I'll admit that you looked handsome but you weren't exactly my type. After all I was with Dean."

"Yes Dan," Lee said. "How did you ever break up with Danny boy,"

"His name was Dean, and he was a very nice man. The day that you and I met, we had been discussing marriage," Amanda said indignantly. "He treated me and the boys very well."

The box began to make a slight beeping noise as Lee moved towards the side of the room by the side bed table. "Well then maybe you should have married Darren then, instead of me." Lee said very loudly. "I mean after all he treated you well and your whole family loved him. You would have been bored to tears"

"Now just wait one minute Lee," Amanda said now getting very angry, "Dean was a very nice man."

"You said that already," Lee said as he moved the hand around the table lamp. "But you didn't stay with him did you. You were falling in love with me, and I fell in love with you. We are now married, and now we have to figure out a way for us to stay married." Lee lifted the lamp shade off the lamp and pulled something off the rim. He showed Amanda the bug that he had just found and said, "now if you really want to be with someone like David, then tell me know and we can just pack up our things and be on our way."

"Right now Lee, I think we need some minutes of silence before either one of us says something that the other one is going to regret," Amanda said as she watched Lee take something out of his bag. He then put the listening device inside the dome shaped object and turned around to Amanda.

"Ok, we can speak freely now," Lee said as he looked at Amanda. "I brought this little gadget along just in case we needed it."

"Is it white noise?" Amanda said as she took the dome object from Lee.

"Yes it is." Lee said. "And with your little comment of needing some silent time, should buy us a few minutes. I don't want to keep the bug in here the whole time, whoever planted this inside here will get suspicious if they don't hear anything after a while."

"Lee, I need to explain what happened there at the meeting," Amanda began.

Lee just shook his head and waved her off, "not necessary. I gather you figured out how to get us here on the other campsite, but just didn't have a chance to tell me?"

"Right," Amanda gushed gratefully. "I'm just glad that you figured it out."

"Well it did take me a few minutes to catch up. It didn't click in until Timothy said we would have to gather our things and come over here." Lee said as he gathered Amanda in his arms, and kissed her hair gently. "Just how did you figure it out?"

Amanda hugged her husband back, and then quickly told him how she found out how to get to the other campsite. She told him how she didn't have enough time to fill him in properly before attacking him in the meeting, and now looking back, she thought it was better that way. That way everything looked more realistic to their camp counsellars.

"I just wish I could have gotten a look at Billy's face when we said that we're married in secret," Lee chuckled. "That look would have been priceless!"

"Oh dear," Amanda said. "I didn't think about that at the time. Do you think he believes all of that was just an act? Or do you think he knows that we're actually married?"

"With Billy, you never know what he's thinks," Lee said amused. "Ok, we need to take this little thing out of the white noise soon."

"I guess we'll have to keep on putting that in there when we need to talk," Amanda said.

"Yes, we will. Or else we're going to have to find out ways to get out of this cabin together without arousing suspicion."

"Ok, are you ready," Lee said as he looked at his wife. Amanda nodded her head, and Lee opened the dome and brought the bug back out into the open again.


End file.
